This Day in Music
On this day in music, July 8, 1954, Elvis Presley’s debut single, “That’s All Right,” was played for the very first time on Memphis’ WHBQ. Recorded three days earlier, Elvis’ rendition of the Arthur Crudup song was born out of improvisation, while he and his band, The Blue Moon Boys, were in between takes at Sun Studio. Elvis led the band through an up-tempo version of the blues tune, catching the ear of Sun founder and producer, Sam Phillips, who recorded the song. Ahead of its release, Phillips shared acetates of the song with several local radio stations. DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation) played it that night on his show “Red, Hot & Blue.” The station was flooded with calls, asking for him to play the song again, which he did, more than a dozen times that evening. With that, Elvis mania was born.
In 1958, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) presented its very first Gold Album to the Oklahoma! soundtrack, which commemorated the sale of 500,000 copies. Several months earlier, the RIAA presented its first Gold Record to a single – Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star.”
In 1995, TLC owned the airwaves and the Billboard charts with “Waterfalls,” which began its seven-week run at the top of the Hot 100. The song, which marked the group’s second No.1 hit and one of their signature songs, later earned the trio two Grammy nods. Its video, meanwhile, won four MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year, making TLC the first Black act to take home the top honor.
In 1972, Bill Withers began a three-week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with his poignant and enduring hit, “Lean on Me.” The song, which also topped the soul chart, would return to the No.1 spot once again when Club Nouveau covered it in 1987.
In 1978, Gerry Rafferty’s City to City had the honor of being the sole title to break Saturday Night Fever’s seemingly unstoppable 24-week run at the top of the US album charts. The LP featured the hits “Baker Street” and “Right Down the Line.”
In 1997, sisters Mykel and Carli Allan, who founded Weezer’s official fan club, were killed in a car accident. The girls, along with their younger sister, Trysta, were leaving a Weezer concert in Colorado when tragedy struck. Famous among the band’s global community of fans, the Allans were the subject of Weezer’s 1994 song, “Mykel & Carli” (a B-side to “Undone (The Sweater Song)”). The sisters, who were also early supporters of Jimmy Eat World, were canonized in the band’s 2001 song, “Hear You Me.”
BORN ON JULY 8
1930: Earl Van Dyke
1944: Jaimoe Johanson (Allman Brothers Band)
1960: Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode)
1961: Graham Jones (Haircut 100)
1961: Toby Keith
1963: Joan Osborne
1970: Beck
1985: Jamie Cook (Arctic Monkeys)
